Jerusalem Post: Agreement to revive JCPOA likely to be postponed until after US congressional elections
The Jerusalem Post reported, citing a European diplomatic source, that the likelihood of Iran and the United States returning to the nuclear deal before the November US congressional elections is low, even as the International Atomic Energy Agency has reported further progress in the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
Iran's latest response to the EU's "final" text for reviving the JCPOA has dampened hopes of reaching an agreement within days, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell saying that "recent interactions between Iran and the United States show that their positions have become increasingly divergent."
The Jerusalem Post, citing the diplomatic source, writes that if an agreement is not reached within the next few days, it will be too late to quickly conclude the negotiations.
U.S. law requires Congress to have 30 days to review any deal that would lift sanctions on Iran, meaning a potential unpopular deal would have to be on the table by mid-October, shortly before the Nov. 8 election.
European and Israeli sources say that US President Joe Biden would likely avoid such a scenario.
Meanwhile, Iran continues to develop its nuclear program, with a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency saying that Iran's stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium has increased to a level that, if further enriched, would be sufficient to produce a nuclear bomb.
According to this international organization, Iran has increased its 60% enriched uranium reserves from 12.5 kilograms to 55.6 kilograms by the end of May compared to three months ago, and its low-enriched uranium reserves are now 19 times higher than the virtual limit set in the July 2015 nuclear deal.
Therefore, a two-and-a-half-month delay in negotiations could jeopardize a potential agreement.
In this context, a US State Department spokesman stressed on Wednesday that Washington is still trying to revive the nuclear deal with Iran through negotiations. Vedant Patel, however, said that "Iran's response did not put us in a position to finalize the agreement."
He stated: "We continue to pursue this agreement because we believe that a mutual return to the JCPOA is not only in the interest of this country's national security, but also an important step in curbing Iran's nuclear program."
A spokesman for the US National Security Council also said that negotiations would continue.
Source: Radio Farda
